Making slow progress on the Scout 80 but figured I would share my attempts at reworking two badly worn steering wheels. Hopefully the information here is helpful. First here are the two before starting :
The gold wheel had fewer cracks, but had the missing material around the center horn. I researched several products and had done a steering wheel for my boss several years ago with a kit. The epoxy that came with it had the same feel and smell as JB Weld KwiK. This is what I chose - you may disagree, but the process should be the same.
Next was to remove any loose plastic and rust from the crack areas. I used a cut off hacksaw blade, sandpaper, and a Dremel to do this. Once prepared I was ready to begin mixing small batches and working the material into the cracks. For the gold wheel I wrapped the inside of the horn area with tape, drilled a few holes and inserted steel pins into the area that was missing and slowly began filling the area.
Once the weld begins setting up you can rough it in with a file, my choice is a half-round. Once the wheel was roughed I added more JB Weld into the low areas and filed then sanded. The sanding process was quite dirty. I sanded to 320 then began to fill with black primer. The next photos show the before primer state.
I picked up single stage paint and shot the wheel black.
Also in this process I rebuilt the horn retention rings for both of these wheels. Here is a shot of the horn button pieces:
I found a sheet of urethane in the shop and decided to machine new rubber locking pieces for the retention ring. One set was completely shot, the other required replacement of only one. I made multiple sets if anyone is interested.
The original rubber is mounted with a single grommet, this needed to be drilled to allow for the new pieces. The best mounting sequence I could configure was to use pop-rivets in the existing outside holes.
Rivets were loosely inserted then I allowed the gun to pull the ball about halfway down the shaft. I was afraid it may pull out if I didn't stop and manually remove the pin.
The gold wheel had fewer cracks, but had the missing material around the center horn. I researched several products and had done a steering wheel for my boss several years ago with a kit. The epoxy that came with it had the same feel and smell as JB Weld KwiK. This is what I chose - you may disagree, but the process should be the same.
Next was to remove any loose plastic and rust from the crack areas. I used a cut off hacksaw blade, sandpaper, and a Dremel to do this. Once prepared I was ready to begin mixing small batches and working the material into the cracks. For the gold wheel I wrapped the inside of the horn area with tape, drilled a few holes and inserted steel pins into the area that was missing and slowly began filling the area.
Once the weld begins setting up you can rough it in with a file, my choice is a half-round. Once the wheel was roughed I added more JB Weld into the low areas and filed then sanded. The sanding process was quite dirty. I sanded to 320 then began to fill with black primer. The next photos show the before primer state.
I picked up single stage paint and shot the wheel black.
Also in this process I rebuilt the horn retention rings for both of these wheels. Here is a shot of the horn button pieces:
I found a sheet of urethane in the shop and decided to machine new rubber locking pieces for the retention ring. One set was completely shot, the other required replacement of only one. I made multiple sets if anyone is interested.
The original rubber is mounted with a single grommet, this needed to be drilled to allow for the new pieces. The best mounting sequence I could configure was to use pop-rivets in the existing outside holes.
Rivets were loosely inserted then I allowed the gun to pull the ball about halfway down the shaft. I was afraid it may pull out if I didn't stop and manually remove the pin.
